


Meet Vanessa Woodfield

by Gracey_H



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2017-12-15
Packaged: 2019-02-15 05:58:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13024710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gracey_H/pseuds/Gracey_H
Summary: Debbie wants to know about Charity's new relationship.





	Meet Vanessa Woodfield

Upon her arrival back in the Dales, Debbie Dingle was very quickly overwhelmed by a surge of news.

Finn and Emma Barton: dead. Her dad and Moira with a baby boy- her baby brother. Her mother somehow entangled with the local vet.

Overwhelmed was a slight understatement.

It was only two days after her arrival, after being welcomed home by Jack and Sarah and visiting an exhausted Moira, Debbie finally got round to questioning her mother.

"You look determined," Charity observed as she strode into the backroom of the Woolpack. 

She looked happy, Debbie noticed.

Not in the way Debbie had gotten used to either. Her mother didn't look like she had just finished tormenting some poor punter- she lacked the self-satisfied smirk that always accompanied a particularly biting jab. Jack and Sarah had told her that they hadn't seen their granny Charity that day so Debbie knew that they couldn't be the reason for her smile.

Yet somehow she looked light. The stony mask that came with the years of mistrust and scheming had softened- if only slightly.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Debbie demanded, glaring at her mother.

"About?" 

"You and Vanessa!" Debbie said, her voice shaking with supressed annoyance, "Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to find out that your mothers gotten with the local vet while you were on holiday? And I had to hear it from Brenda of all people! Brenda!"

"Would you have preferred to have found out from Bob?" Charity drawled, her legs stretching along the length of the sofa.

"No! I wanted to hear it from you."

"I'm seeing Vanessa."

Debbie rubbed her temple and took a deep breath. She didn't know why she cared so much. Her mother had been with more blokes then Debbie cared to think about.

"It doesn't bother you right, babe?" Charity questioned, her face was impassive, the impenetrable mask firmly back in place, but for a moment- just a fleeting moment- Debbie could have sworn she heard a flicker of insecurity in her mother's voice.

"I'm just a bit surprised, I mean she is...," Debbie trailed off

"A woman," Charity supplied, "It's not like she's the first- you've heard about Zoe Tate."

"I guess I thought it was just a phase," Debbie said and then cringed as soon as the words left her mouth. She watched her mother's eyebrows lift and she wished that she could unsay it. 

"Was Jasmine Thomas just part of 'a phase' for you?"

The name winded her temporarily.

She had been waiting for that name to crop up. Anticipating it even. This did nothing to stop the onslaught of emotions that overcome her. The memory if the warmth that she had always felt in her chest whenever they were together; the softness of her lips- something Debbie hadn't allowed herself to remember in years; the eventual stab of betrayal, that even today, still twinged today like an old battle wound.

Debbie had loved her. No differently to how she had loved Cameron or Ross. No differently to how she could see herself loving Tom. 

"Jasmine wasn't a phase," Debbie started, quickly carrying on when she saw Charity opening her mouth, "But I can't see myself ever feeling that way about another girl again."

"Maybe you won't," Charity shrugged, "I never thought I would after Zoe."

"And now?"

"All I know right now is that I really like her, Debbs. She is so ridiculously happy and positive all the God damn time. She is so kind to everyone she cares about-"

"Why in earth is she with you then," Debbie quipped, but it seemed her mother was not done. 

"And she makes me happy- happier then I've been in a very long time," Charity finished.

For a long moment there was silence, and then in two long strides, Debbie crossed the room to pull her mother into a hug. She felt the other women deflate and all the bravado it had taken for her to defiantly declare her feelings leave her in one.

"If you're happy, then I am too," Debbie promised, "I'd love to meet her- you know, properly."

Charity pulled back, making a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sniff. 

"Good, because she's been eavesdropping this whole time."

"She's what?"

"When you texted saying you were coming over to talk, she said she wanted to be here in case things didnt go well." Charity moved to open the door leading to the staircase in the backroom.

Standing looking equal parts dishevelled and embarrassed was Vaness, she gave Debbie a sheepish wave and aimed a glare at Charity.

"That was not part of the plan," She hissed at Charity.

"The plan?" Debbie interjected.

"Vanessa here was going to come in if things sounded like they were going well and pretend like she hadnt been ear wigging the whole time," Charity informed her before sending a genuine smile at her girlfriend, "Sorry, babe." She took Vanessa's hand and pulled her forward a bit so they were standing shoulder to shoulder. " Anyway, Ness this is Debbie, my daughter. Debbie this is my girlfriend, Ness."

Debbie rolled her eyes, " We have seen each other before."

She offered her hand to Vanessa anyway. With enthusiasm, Vanessa shook it- a bright smile on her face.

"Yeah," Charity grinned looking between the two, " I thought I should introduce you both though- under slightly different circumstances."

**Author's Note:**

> Vanity is love  
> Vanity is life <3  
> All feedback is appreciated


End file.
